Starfield Xbox Series S performance fears finally addressed

It’s September which can only mean one thing: We’ve entered Starfield season. Those of you who pre-ordered the Premium or Constellation editions should currently be enjoying early access. Everyone else can then join in on 6 September.

The game’s embargo dropped yesterday. It’s clear that the game is a major success even if the Metacritic score was marginally lower than some predicted. I had the pleasure of reviewing Starfield here at GAMINGbible, giving it a perfect 10. Our review reads, “Every now and then, a new game comes along that changes our perception of what the industry is capable of. Starfield is that game. This is beyond what we’ve come to know an open-world to be. Bethesda has created a universe that, despite its vast scale, maintains interest and an impressive attention to detail throughout.” Considering Starfield has over 1,000 planets, many have been wondering how it runs on the Xbox Series S. The answer? Perfectly well.

Take a look at our video review of Starfield below.

I personally reviewed the game on the Series S. In my review, I said, “I was concerned about how it would run on my Series S, given so many developers have confessed to finding it a limiting console but I was, on the whole, very impressed. I did experience a couple of crashes. Thankfully, Starfield auto-saves all the time so it’s nothing a quick reload didn’t sort. As for bugs though, except for one time where I died and my hair temporarily disappeared for a while, it was all smooth sailing.”

Don’t just take my word for it. Eurogamer have had a similar experience, writing, “The console versions do manage to acquit themselves quite well, with smooth, consistent, stable and detailed graphics. Diving into both Xbox Series versions, at a glance we're getting a very similar experience on both consoles, with even the weaker Series S looking quite good.”

Eurogamer notes that Series S graphics are mildly less sharper - something I can attest. This is only really noticeable though when you zoom in to scrutinise the graphical fidelity. You may also encounter a few extra loading screens on the Series S too. Eurogamer added, “The basic gist is that both machines look similar on the surface, though Series S sees a range of cutbacks to distant detail, shadows, and reflections, which don't make a huge impact but are noticeable, I would say.”

So if you are diving in on a Series S, worry not. You’re still in for a great time.